I won't be captain anymore of the T20 team: Darren Sammy

In a surprising news, Darren Sammy has revealed that he will no longer lead West Indies T20I team. Sammy, in a video message on Facebook on Friday (August 5), said that he received a call from the West Indies chairman of selectors who indicatd that he was no longer fit to captain the T20I team.

“I got a call yesterday morning, (which lasted) 30 seconds, from the chairman of the selectors telling me that they reviewed the captaincy of the T20 (team) and that I won’t be captain anymore of the T20 team, and my performance does not merit selection in the squad,” The two-time ICC World T20 winning captain said in his video message.

“That’s okay, I’ve always believed West Indies cricket is not about Darren Sammy. They are looking to the future and I wanna wish the new captain – I’m not sure if it is out there, won’t call any names – all the best as he looks to lead West Indies cricket and take it forward,” he added.

He went on to describe his feeling about captaining the side and regarded it as the toughest challenge of his career. Sammy also thanked his former coach Ottis Gibson and the teammates for their support.

“Six years ago I was asked to captain West Indies, a task which I thought would be the biggest challenge in my career, in my life. A task which I know would be so difficult, but guess what, I took it head on. I embraced the challenge, I embraced the difficulty, I turn up at the office which is my playground – the cricket field. Every day I put in the work.

“(I) started off with Ottis Gibson, I want to thank you buddy for believing in me and now it has ended up with Phil [Simmons]. To my players all over the years, who’ve been part of the team and who’ve played under my captaincy, I want to thank you all for all the support. We’ve had our ups and downs but I have never given up hope, I have never stopped believing in myself and the team. That is what I was about as captain, trying to instil positive, never-say-die attitude to my players. The result we won two World Cups and I want to thank you all,” the 32-year-old added.

Sammy has led his team with good success. Out of the 47 T20I matches in which Sammy lead, West Indies won 27 games. Apart from this, He also has the distinction of winning the World T20 title twice – the 2012 edition in Sri Lanka and the 2016 edition in India. However, his personal performance was under the scanner. His form in the shortest format in the last two years was quite unsatisfactory which may have led the selectors take this decision.

“Obviously, throughout my captaincy winning the two World Cups (World T20) has been the highlight. And these memories I will cherish for a long time. This is not me retiring from one-day or T20, it’s just me thanking the fans and my players and the coaches I’ve worked with and WICB for…yea, letting me lead the side for the last six years. But for now, the captaincy has come to an end and thank you people.

“I just know I played with my heart and soul whenever I stepped out on the cricket field,” Sammy concluded.